Saturday, January 02, 2016

Air Force Rejects Atheists' Demands Against Prayer

Mikey Weinstein, president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), made another of his obligatory complaints, this time about the Air Force Academy football Falcons' tradition of kneeling in the end zone for prayer. In response, the Air Force "found the football players’ actions to be consistent with Air Force Instruction 1-1 and its guidance on the free exercise of religion and religious accommodation." So now, the MRFF is considering action to seek an injunction in federal court.

“This end zone praying is just another territorial conquest of the religious Christian right,” MRFF founder and president Mikey Weinstein said. “This stands in a long line of conservative Christian acts like this.”

Because of the complaint, the academy is conducting a review of the situation.

“The Air Force Academy Inspector General opened a third-party complaint and referred the issue to the athletic department for an informal inquiry,” an Air Force spokesperson said in an email.

The players are not being required, compelled or forced to pray by any program or academy official. Rather, according to the academy’s official stance, they do it of their own volition.

The U.S. Air Force Academy has ruled football players' prayers in the end zone at games is allowed under its rule dictating religious practice and observance.

Here's the academy's ruling:

The United States Air Force Academy places a high value on the rights of its members to observe the tenets of their respective religion or to observe no religion at all. Recently the United States Air Force Academy received a complaint about its football players kneeling in prayer. An inquiry was initiated, which found the football player's actions to be consistent with Air Force Instruction 1-1 and its guidance on the free exercise of religion and religious accommodation. The United States Air Force Academy will continue to reaffirm to cadets that all Airmen are free to practice the religion of their choice or subscribe to no religious belief at all. The players may confidently practice their own beliefs without pressure to participate in the practices of others.

For years, football players at the Air Force Academy have knelt in the end zone and prayed before each game. Their voluntary, personal prayers, which cannot be heard by spectators, are a private act of devotion that should be respected. . . .

To its credit, the Air Force Academy has not resorted to the sort of knee-jerk response Weinstein seeks. Instead of issuing a unilateral ban on prayer, as MRFF requested, the academy wisely referred the matter to the proper legal entities for review.

The Constitution, federal case law and military regulations all protect the right of service members to freely exercise their religious beliefs or no belief at all. This includes religious expression, while on duty and in uniform, such as prayer before a football game.